


Dance for Your Life

by DameinToyland



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Cisco Ramon’s dance moves, D is for Dancing, Dancing, Except Cisco’s dance moves, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Minor Caitlin Snow, Minor Cisco Ramon, Minor Earth-2 Harrison “Harry” Wells, Minor Jesse "Quick" Wells/Wally West, Minor Joe West, None of these characters have speaking roles, Westallenalphabet, brief mention of alcohol, mild suggestive language, westallen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:53:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29111127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DameinToyland/pseuds/DameinToyland
Summary: Barry has to prove he has the dance skills to keep the girl, and maybe save his life. Set between episode 3x3 and 3x4.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Iris West
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Dance for Your Life

**Author's Note:**

> For the #westallenalphabet event on tumblr. This story is brought to you by the letter “D”.  
> Not beta read, so please forgive me for any mistakes.

“One...two...three!”

The voices of the group quieted as heads tipped back and the golden liquid held in the small glasses disappeared behind lips.

“Ahhh,” Iris sighed loudly as she slammed her shot glass back onto the round table she surrounded along with her friends and family. 

The last time they’d gone out like this had been at least two timelines ago. Before Barry had changed the past, under the influence of understandable grief, and then tried to reset his mistake. While he had mostly succeeded, the team was still freshly mending from unanticipated fractures. When Cisco had suggested the night out, they had all jumped at the chance to let loose and hang out as Team Flash again. 

Barry caught Iris’ eyes from across the table and flashed her a toothy grin. The one she sometimes liked to imagine that he reserved just for her. Iris returned her own smile. 

Barry’s eyes darted quickly to the left and then back to Iris. She looked over her left shoulder to follow Barry’s cue and saw Cisco who had been by her side only a moment ago out on the dance floor doing an odd jerky movement that looked like he was giving the empty space in front of him the heimlich. 

Iris turned back to Barry with wide eyes. They stared at each other with identical looks of amusement mixed with dread until something broke and Iris couldn’t stop the laughter bubbling up. Barry responded with his own laugh. After a moment, Iris could see Barry’s lips moving but could barely hear him above the sound of the music. As clubs go, this one wasn’t the loudest, but it still made communication across a table difficult. Iris shook her head and gestured at her ears. Barry seemed to take it as an invitation and walked around the table to her side in the spot previously vacated by Cisco.

He slipped an arm around her waist and leaned down to say something at the same time that Iris turned to face him.

“I said—” he started, his warm breath falling on her face. It smelled minty and she really wanted to lean in to kiss him, Cisco’s dancing a long forgotten memory. It wouldn’t be strange for her to kiss him now that they were dating, but they were also out with her dad and Wally and that was killing some of the mood. Or more appropriately, Barry’s awkwardness around them was killing it.

Barry must have had a similar thought because she tracked the movement of his eyes down to her lips and back up. She could hear him clear his throat just before speaking again, “I said we really have to talk to Cisco about those dance moves.”

“I don’t know. I think the moves work for him.” Barry eyed her skeptically, but Iris pointed to the girl dancing near Cisco watching their friend intently and nodding along to his moves.

“Just to be sure we’re still on the same page, I’m still not allowed to do that at our hypothetical wedding, right?” Barry asked. He raised his brows at her and did a very slow and exaggerated roll of his shoulders and arms.

“Is that the cabbage patch?”

“You know it.”

Iris snorted. “Nice, but to answer your question, not unless you want to be a dead man on our wedding day.” The two of them laughed and Iris leaned back against Barry as they continued to watch their friends. Aside from Cisco flailing on the dance floor; Caitlin was at the bar talking very animatedly to her dad and Harry, the latter throwing menacing glances every few seconds at Wally and Jessie, who were dancing quite closely. Iris suspected there was something between the two of them, but it still seemed pretty tentative.

Barry was swaying them gently as they watched the crowd. Iris bit her lip, wishing that it were her and Barry on the dance floor right now.

“Now that I think about it, we’ve never really danced together.” Barry’s voice cut through her thoughts.

“What?” Iris responded a little incredulously. “Of course, we have!” But she chuckled nervously at the end, doubting her own words the moment they left her lips.

Iris shook her head trying to remember. “We’ve known each other for how many years? I mean, what about prom?”

“Our dates wouldn’t allow it, remember?” Barry replied and Iris quickly recalled the disappointment she’d felt at not getting to dance with her best friend that night. That had always kept it from being the perfect night for her.

“You’re right, but we’ve definitely danced together at a party before.” Iris turned her head and looked up at Barry.

He studied her with a thoughtful gaze for a moment. “Depends on what you count as dancing together. We’ve always been in a group, so never just the two of us. And definitely not that closely.”

Iris frowned and stood up a little straighter. “And we haven’t even danced on a date yet.”

“Nope,” Barry added, shaking his head but otherwise unconcerned.

“We have to remedy this.” Iris stepped away from Barry’s grasp and turned around to face him. She grabbed his arm and began pulling him towards the dance floor.

“What are you doing?” 

“I want to see your moves Mr. Allen.” 

“You’ve seen some,” Barry closed the distance between them and said into her ear.

“Not those moves.” She slapped his arm lightly and dragged him in between Cisco and Wally and Jessie. 

Barry stood watching her with an appreciative grin as she moved herself around him to the music. He moved his shoulders somewhat stiffly to the music, but didn’t put in any additional effort. Iris was a little surprised, because she had expected a little better from him. She came close to him and wrapped her arms up around his neck, drawing him into her space and causing him to move with her although he was still tense.

“Come on, Barr,” Iris said over the music. “This is your chance to impress me. Our future, maybe, wedding depends on what you show me right now.” 

Iris knew she was breaking rules by talking about a wedding so early in a relationship, but honestly after knowing about the future  _ Iris West Allen _ and the existence of a happily married Barry and Iris on another Earth, she figured this was one bridge that they had already crossed and could never go back on. She’d known there was no going back the moment she’d told Barry he had someone to come back to when he went to Earth 2—hell, she knew the moment he confessed his feelings to her and she couldn’t stop thinking about him even when she was with someone else. Probably the result of a culmination of all those years of knowing deep down that she’d felt something more for her best friend than just friendship. 

They were at the beginning of their relationship but she knew that she was his, he was hers.

Barry swallowed thickly, and looked up quickly before looking back down at Iris. “It’s a little crowded here, don’t you think?”

Iris frowned. They were on the edge of the dance floor with plenty of space between them and the next person, maybe with the exception of their friends. Cisco was still gyrating wildly behind them, occasionally throwing Barry a thumbs up. Though now he was joined by Caitlin who was doing her best to keep up. Wally and Jessie were still stuck in their own world, although dancing a little further apart. Iris realized it was probably the presence of both Harry and her dad near the edge of the dance floor that threw cold water on the young lovebirds’ private dance party.

Then it dawned on Iris, that maybe Barry felt awkward dancing with her in front of everyone...and by everyone she knew it was her father. She really needed to talk to Barry about it, especially since he was staying at her dad’s house. Iris glanced over at her dad and he seemed more amused at the scene than judgemental, but Iris was not going to let Barry’s misplaced chivalry get in the way of her fun. She had a question that needed answering and as an investigative journalist it was her duty to pursue all sources. So Iris dropped her hands to Barry’s and pulled him further into the crowd.

Iris found an open spot in the middle of the dance floor, tucked away from the eyes of their family and friends. Coloured lights flashed around them, lighting their skin. The privacy seemed to be working, because Barry had come out of his shell. He spun Iris to face away from him and circled his arms around her. Barry swayed her gently to the beat, leading her through the deep bass and intense melody of the song. Their bodies pressed together so that Iris could feel the warmth radiating off of him. 

Iris lost herself to the music and the feeling of being surrounded by Barry. Her question of his dance skills long since answered. She wondered why exactly they had never danced together like this before. 

They continued to dance in their own little bubble for several more songs, still hidden in the crowd. Iris turned around in Barry’s arms and smiled up at him, she stood up on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, “I can’t believe you’ve been hiding your dancing skills from me this entire time.”

“To be fair, I don’t think I’ve ever danced like this with anyone else in my life,” he responded.

“Really, what changed?” Iris asked, running a hand across the back of his neck. 

Barry gave her a roguish grin and spun her wide, before pulling her back and dipping her low. He pulled her back in and bent down to speak into her ear. “Well, I can’t be a dead man at my own wedding, can I?”

**Author's Note:**

> Writing two characters dancing is the hardest thing I’ve ever written, hopefully it came out well. Also, is there a consensus on Bear vs Barr?


End file.
